Which to use
“respect” and “respects” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,043
- “respect” frequency rank
- #30,777
- “respects” frequency rank
- 31820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | respect | respects |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sentiment de considération, d’égard envers quelqu’un ou quelque chose, manifesté par une attitude déférente envers celui-ci ou celle-ci. | Pluriel de respect. |
Same sound, different letters: respect vs respects
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. respect runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against respects's 8 (CVCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: respect vs respects
This is the hard kind. respect and respects are pronounced identically (\ʁɛs.pɛ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “respect” sits inside “respects”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
respect is recorded at frequency rank #1,043, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛs.pɛ\. respects is at rank #30,777, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛs.pɛ\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 31820, this pair ranks #301,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of respect vs respects
Shared letters: ceprst. Private to "respect": -. Private to "respects": -.
"respect" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "respects" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "respect" and "respects" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "respect" or "respects"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "respect" / "respects". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "respect" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "respects" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #301,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "respect" and "respects" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "respectons vs respects". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #301,344 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.